Astell & kern a&ultima sp3000

The pile of What Hi-Fi? Awards Astell & Kern has won since its foundation in 2013 is enough to prove the company’s ability. A&K has stuck to the ‘reassuringly expensive’ path that has served it well. Even its current entry-level offering, the excellent A&norma SR35, which retails for £799, falls into the premium category by most judgements.

Good as the company’s players have been, we have always wondered what would happen if its engineers were tasked with producing a true cost-no-object offering. The arrival of the Astell & Kern A&ultima SP3000 answers that question.

This player may be around the size of a large box of matches but it weighs in at just short of half a kilogram. While it is small enough to fit into a pocket, the SP3000 won’t feel comfortable there, in part due to the sharp-edged angular casework. It is made of highly polished 904L stainless steel, known for being durable and resistant to corrosion – so much so it is used by Rolex. There are two finishes, black or silver, while the supplied ALRAN leather case helps protect against scratches.

The SP3000’s touchscreen is a responsive and relatively crisp 5.46in LCD display with a resolution of 1080 x 1920.

The physical control count is minimal, with three buttons on the side handling standard play/pause/skip and scan, leaving the crown-like volume dial to double as an on/off switch. There are three outputs on the top: a 3.5mm that also serves as an optical output, a 4.4mm balanced and a 2.5mm balanced. It is clear that A&K is trying to cover all bases. The unit is charged via a USB-C socket on the base, which also acts as the input when you want to download files into the player.

APPEALING FULLNESS

The SP3000 can handle high-resolution files up to 32-bit/768kHz PCM files and DSD512. It will play all the standard file types as well as MQA. This is all thanks to the use of a quartet of Asahi Kasei’s new flagship DAC chips, the AK4499EX. Elsewhere, the engineers have worked hard to reduce internal noise levels and even gone as far as to have separate analogue circuits for the balanced and unbalanced outputs, all with the aim of optimising performance.

Bluetooth is on the menu, and given the no-compromise nature of this design it comes as no surprise to find aptX HD and LDAC codecs on the spec list. The SP3000 can also stream files across your home network and has 256GB of storage built in. Those with a large collection of hi-res files may find this limiting, but a microSD card